Page 2 - Entrepreneurial Companies Indianapolis

Thinking Like an Entrepreneur

Monday, January 11, 2010 by Bryan Povlinski

In our recent business leader meeting with Thomas Mason, and Economics and Engineering Management professor at Rose Hulman, he made the point that any employee should always be trying to "Think like an Entrepreneur." Now that doesn't mean that every employee should aspire to be an entrepreneur, or that employees should be thinking about starting new businesses while they're working for their current company. What it means is that, as an employee, you should constantly be thinking of better ways to do things in your current company, and thinking of new business opportunities for your employer. These new ideas don't have to be world-changing, million dollar ideas, but rather small innovations that get things moving the right way.

I'd venture to guess that most employees at entry-level jobs in Indiana do not have this mindset. But when you're working with high growth start-ups "thinking like an entrepreneur" is practically required. A lot of the companies that are part of the Orr Fellowship are small, entrepreneurial companies in Indianapolis. They don't all have a full marketing or finance department. These companies need Orr Fellows to come up with unique ideas to help build their business.

How can you be "thinking like an entrepreneur?"

Are there certain things that are done at your company every week just because "that's the way they're always been done?" If they no longer make sense maybe it's time to make a change.

Do you have a perspective from a previous internship or organization that no one in your current company has?

Maybe there peripheral activities that are outside the responsibility of your everyday job that you can address. Starting a recycling program or fitness routine could make a bigger impact than you think.

There are countless ideas just waiting to be taken. Are you thinking like an entrepreneur?

It's Hard To Imagine Doing Something You Hate For A Living

Wednesday, January 6, 2010 by Ally Hill

In the past couple months, I've had the chance to take two pretty spectacular vacations. There were two experiences I'm going to share that insanely enough have a lot to do with entrepreneurship opportunities, and they also showed me that there's no way I will end up doing what I hate for a living.

Experience #1: Accidental Tourist
My sister had the pleasure of studying in Florence, Italy for her first semester of her junior year at IU - and I had the pleasure of paying her a visit. My favorite day out of the week was a day we chose to embark on a cooking/wine excursion with a company called Accidental Tourist. Turns out the woman who started the company was the one who took us on the tour. She was so incredibly passionate about what she did it was almost weird (kind of like me and HP printers).

We certainly don't have jobs in Indiana that would come anywhere close to what Accidental Tourist does (mostly because Indiana isn't anything like Italy). Their goal is "to show their beloved Tuscany through the back door, to give you the inside story, to take you inside the beating heart of the private homes of Chianti."

Making pasta and being invited into someone's home gave me an idea of what it would be like to live in Italy. I'm not sure what a similar company in Indianapolis could provide tourists...but my point is that this woman started a company and makes a living based on what she loves doing - drinking wine and cooking. And she made it seem so easy.

Experience #2: Indigo Divers
Over New Years, I went scuba diving in Grand Cayman - and again we ended up with an entrepreneur. This time there were two, Chris and Kate. They started a diving company called Indigo Divers in the Caymans about 5 years ago. Rough life.

Since there are so many diving companies in the Cayman Islands they decided that they:

Didn't want to teach people how to dive
Didn't want to take out more than 6 people at a time

In most cases, diving shops will offer lessons and take out huge boats of people at once, so diving with Indigo was much better than the alternative. Their company is very successful.

My Point: I want to do it too
My two entrepreneurial encounters on vacation made me think about what I love doing. I want to be able to start a company that helps showcase my passions as well as my talents - both Accidental Tourist and Indigo Divers did this. The Orr Fellowship is providing me with the initial experience I need at a small Indiana company. However, I know that my business career in Indianapolis will have to be one that doesn't seem like a career.

So if you happen to come across any entrepreneurial opportunities that have to do with eating and sleeping please let me know...just kidding. But seriously, while you're at it please go to our Tree Luggers website and sign up to recycle that Christmas tree!

Tree Luggers: Giving Back to Our Community

Tuesday, January 5, 2010 by Blaine Cooper-Surma

It's that time of year again; the Holiday Season has passed and in a short amount of time you'll find yourself taking down those holiday decorations that probably cover your entire house. After you've mustered up enough motivation to finally begin this lengthy process, the last struggle is always the disposal of the family Christmas tree. However, that's not going to be the case for you this year - the Orr Fellows are here to help!

As a non-profit organization, the Governor Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship places a strong emphasis on community outreach, civic responsibility, and self-sustainability. As such, one of our annual fundraisers is called "Tree Luggers" in which we travel around the Indianapolis community collecting and disposing of Christmas trees while collecting donations. But how does this fundraiser actually benefit the community? Well, first, we are providing a service that for many people is extremely helpful. More importantly, though, we offer an incentive to local churches and other non-profit entities that promote our fundraiser to their members. For all money that is donated to the Governor Bob Orr Fellowship during Tree Luggers, half of the proceeds are given to the specific non-profit that created the referral. In this way, we are able to assist Indianapolis-based non-profits in funding their efforts.

One of the most important values that the Indiana-based Orr Fellowship promotes is entrepreneurship. Tree Luggers is a great example of entrepreneurship in action as the Orr Fellows carefully organize, plan, and execute the fundraiser from start to finish. So what goes into Tree Luggers to ensure its success year in and year out? Many of the Orr Fellows are "luggers," or those that travel to homes, collect the trees, and then later dispose of the holiday conifers. Several others use their marketing expertise to help spread the word through social media like Twitter and Facebook, strategically placed fliers in the Indianapolis community, and specified email lists owned by several Orr Fellowship host companies. We also have fellows that help create partnerships with churches and other non-profit organizations. Lastly, a couple of fellows take on a financial role so that all donations and referrals are carefully recorded. To participate in this fundraiser, and save yourself a great deal of time and effort, please sign-up here. Remaining pick-up dates are:

Saturday, January 9th
Saturday, January 16th
Saturday, January 23rd

For those that don't know much about the Governor Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship, it is an Indiana-based non-profit organization that provides jobs for recent graduates in fast growing Indianapolis companies. Whether you're looking to start a marketing career, an entrepreneurship career, or maybe just a career in business, this is one unique fellowship program like no other.

Why havent you started a business yet?

Thursday, December 10, 2009 by Trey Buck

I get asked this same question, or some variation of it, a LOT. So many people are interested in the Orr Fellowship and the post-grads' careers that come through the program that this question is almost a staple of any new conversation struck. Similar questions include:

What do you want to do after you finish?
What kind of venture are you interested in? Technology jobs in Indianapolis? Business jobs in Indianapolis?
What's the next step in your entrepreneurial career?
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

And the list goes on... and my answer is always the same: I need to wait and see. This sort of answer frustrates most listeners, as it probably should. Even worse, it frustrates me because I WANT to run a high growth start-up, full of all the excitement and wonder these sort of organizations are known for. And Im young. Now is the time to make mistakes, right? Without having to worry about not being able to recover from a bust, with plenty of time to recover my life and my career right?

Yes. But no. A May, 2008 study by the Kauffman Foundation found that twice as many tech saavy entrepreneurs start businesses in their 50's as they do in their 20's, with an average age of start-up founders being 39. Not 20, not 25, not even 30. 39. To me, this says that experience is a great teacher, but more important is the kind of experience; being a former CEO of three failed start-ups at 30 might be great experience to lean on, but it probably isnt as effective as working within and learning how start-ups and small businesses should be run to build successful organizations. There is a proverb that goes something like "yesterday's tracks are tomorrows guides", and this is a perfect example of that; so, the first part of my answer to "why havent you started a business yet?" is: Why make the same mistakes you can learn from watching others?

There is a second part of my answer, that is more complicated but Ill do my best: circumstance. Start-ups, especially technology start-ups, need the right circumstances to survive and grow. The team, the idea, the implementation, the market, everything needs to be well understood and in place before Ill want to touch money. Many a good idea have failed because they were missing a piece of the entrepreneurial puzzle, and all the hard work, long nights, and missed sleep was wasted. The thing is, we usually never hear about these companies, the ones that fail. Thats part of what makes entrepreneurship so attractive: we really only hear about the successes, and so it seems (to the untrainted eye) that starting and owning a business is easy as apple pie.

For me, I will choose my opportunities wisely. And only when I am ready will I become that ever-so-coveted title of "entrepreneur." That could be tomorrow, or it could be never. The numbers (and my own brain) are telling me it will probably be a while. But then again, who knows?

Cyber Monday Pandemonium

Thursday, December 3, 2009 by Bryan Povlinski

I'm currently an Orr Fellow at Sigma Micro which is an ecommerce software company. Our core busines is to sell software to small to medium sized businesses (usually they already have a physical store or catalog) so that they can start selling their products online. We also operate a few of our own websites with our system, and one of those is a clearance website called Last and Final. One of my responsibilities here, along with two former Orr Fellows who have stayed with the company, is to handle all the online marketing for our website.

You may have noticed that the Monday after Thanksgiving, which is now known as Cyber Monday, is a pretty big day for retailers alll around the country. Personally, I think it's much better than Black Friday because you don't have to deal with stuff like this.

I know I had a slew of emails from companies like Apple, Best Buy, etc. about their big deals. We didn't want to be left in the dust so we planned a big promotion of our own. I'll be short on the details, but the basic premise was that we were selling a very limited supply of Nintendo Wii's for a ridiculously good price...much lower than you could find anywhere else.

We promoted our plan quite a bit in our email newsletter and even got picked up by a few of the major "deals" sites. We made sure our website hosting was ramped up so that we could handle a big traffic spike...and then got ready for the big moment when we released the Wii's to our website at 12pm on Monday.

It wasn't a pretty sight (or site) when we realized that our server was down, and we couldn't access the website at all. Our customers of course were experiencing the same problems, and the site kept going up and down as they were hitting refresh and trying to put the Wii in their shopping cart to check out. Eventually people were able to get through the checkout process...the only problem was that the server issues completely threw our backend system out of whack and it took orders for a lot more Wii's than we actually had. We were pretty happy about the buzz we generated about our site, but now we had quite a few angry customers that weren't going to receive what they thought they ordered.

Anyways, the reason I'm telling this story is that it got me thinking that this episode is a lot like the Orr Fellowship. Now, before you start thinking "Oh my gosh, the Orr Fellowship sounds terrible" let me explain what came of the Cyber Monday experience.

First, we gathered a lot of valuable data about our ecommerce system. We figured out a better way to do the inventory check process. We also realized that our server was able to handle that many people on the site, but not that many people on the same page trying to check out the same item. We also got confirmation that our marketing tactics were pretty effective...enough to nearly crash the website. Sure we had some angry customers, but this gave us a chance to reach out to them personally and extend gift cards for their troubles.

As an Orr Fellow you're constantly going to get the kind of invaluable learning experience that we got from our promotion. When you work for entrepreneurial companies in Indianapolis, or any high growth start-ups for that matter you're going to go through a lot of trial and error. None of us here at Sigma had ever run a Cyber Monday promotion before so it's not like there was a 100 page manual on how to do it right. When you're part of an entrepreneurial fellowship, you're going to be put on projects that might feel uncomfortable because you don't know what you're doing. You might even be put on projects that you're not interested in or that you don't think you'll be good at. In these kinds of situations, everyone is going to make mistakes (just like we did by making some of our customers angry). But mistakes are often going to teach you a lot more than success. The fast growing companies that host Orr Fellows know that we're going to make mistakes.

What you learn in this trial and error atmosphere is going to make you that much better off for the rest of your career. We will definitely be prepared for Cyber Monday next year, and I know I'll be more prepared to take on even bigger projects through more lessons like this.

The In's and Out's of an Orr Fellowship Host Company

Tuesday, December 1, 2009 by Blaine Cooper-Surma

We've all talked about our host companies and what makes ours better than the rest, but how are these companies chosen, and why would someone want to work for an entrepreneurial company in Indianapolis? In order to shed some light on the Orr Fellowship host companies, I have given the information in a question/answer format.

Q: What is a host company's role in the Orr Fellowship?
A: Orr Fellowship host companies have the responsibility of providing their Fellow(s) with a unique experience that cannot be found anywhere else. We want these companies to give their Fellows important projects that help them learn and grow as a working professional. In addition, we require these companies to provide their Fellows with ample exposure to executive-level management so that they can become more comfortable in that type of an environment (this is exactly what we're talking about when we say that the Orr Fellowship is one of the best networking opportunities in Indianapolis).

Q: How are host companies selected to be involved in the Orr Fellowship?
A: Although this process may seem unscientific at times, that's probably because it is. However, host companies are invited to join the Orr Fellowship if they've successfully demonstrated their ability to move at a fast rate of growth, created an environment that is conducive for great learning experiences, and have emerged with a product/service that has the ability to thrive in a changing society for years to come. Overall, we seek out companies that we're confident will provide our Fellows with a wonderful two years of experiences coupled with strong promise of job security with that particular company.

Q: How long are host companies allowed to be involved in the Orr Fellowship?
A: There really isn't a straight-forward answer to this question. There have been companies like ExactTarget and Angie's List that have been a part of the Fellowship essentially since the beginning. However, some companies participate for a year or two while others take Orr Fellows for four, five, and even six years. We typically allow host companies to be in the Orr Fellowship until they've grown out of the stage of being a small, entrepreneurial start-up or until they've shown that they no longer are a suitable company for an Orr Fellow to work in.

This year the Governor Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship has agreed to allow twenty host companies to participate in our program. Over the years we've made a conscious effort to grow the organization - and this year we've finally made the decision to double the size of next year's class. So why have we decided to take so many more Fellows? With an increase in name recognition in Indiana, and the development of a strong reputation among business leaders, we've experienced a tremendous growth in the amount of applications that we've received. It's because of this recognition that the Orr Fellowship has proven itself to be one of the best places to work in Indiana. With that, I want to go ahead and congratulate those candidates that have moved on to the final round of recruitment. You've managed to set yourselves apart from the rest of the competition and have proven yourselves over and over again. Good luck to you all on Friday and I look forward to meeting the Orr Fellowship Class of 2010!

Group Service Date Set for Fellows

Monday, November 30, 2009 by Katie Lindahl

The date has been set for the Orr Fellowship's Holiday Group Service Project! On December 20, we will head up to the Amazon.com fulfillment center in Whitestown, IN for Gift Wrap With a Smile, an opportunity for local Indianapolis non profits to earn extra money by having its volunteers gift-wrap products for Amazon's customers. For every gift wrapped, 75 cents is donated to the non profit.

This year Orr Fellows will be wrapping gifts to raise money for the Shepherd Community Center. Shepherd's mission is to break the cycle of poverty on the near east side of Indianapolis. Shepherd offers programs for children, teens, adults, and families, helping to meet their physical, emotional, academic and spritual needs.

The Service Initiative is yet another aspect of the Governor Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship that makes the Fellowship one of Indiana's best jobs. In addition to the Personal Service Initiative, which Natalie referred to in her previous blog, the Fellowship Group Service (FGS) is designed to bring Fellows together for a day of service where we can give back as one. One unified group, one cause. When you work at jobs in fast paced companies like we do, it's hugely beneficial to slow down and take a minute to appreciate all of the opportunities afforded to us.

Not bad for your first full time job, hm?

To the Fellowship and Beyond...

Monday, November 23, 2009 by Blaine Cooper-Surma

With Turkey-day quickly approaching and the holiday season nearly upon us, I thought a good focus for this blog would be to discuss what a Fellows' options look like when they've completed their two-year committment of being in the Governor Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship. Ok wait, you're right, holidays and post-Fellowship opportunities have literally nothing to do with one another. Oh well, it's a Monday - give me a break, already!

As I'm sure you can imagine, being in the Orr Fellowship isn't always easy; nor is it glamorous at times. To do well and set yourself up for success you have to spend a lot of time with your nose to the grindstone and your pride in your back pocket. But what happens when you've completed your two years with the Fellowship?

At this point in your career you have an important decision to make. Your first option is to stay on with your current host company. This is probably the most common route that graduating Orr Fellows take, but it is by no means what is expected. Many Fellows decide to go this direction because they've spent the past two years developing a foundation for themselves in their organization. Building relationships and making a name for yourself takes time and a great deal of effort. Also, most of these host companies are fast growing Indianapolis companies. Just by being in the organization for a couple of years, these Fellows have been able to experience accelerated career growth that would most likely not have taken place had they begun their career in a large corporation.

Another option that exists for graduating Orr Fellows is to change companies. Some Fellows decide to move on to completely separate companies, while others stay within the Fellowship family and join a different host company. The Orr Fellowship has a reputation of providing some of the best networking opportunities in Indianapolis, so it's not surprising that connections are made between Fellows and host company executives that result in a career opportunity.

A third option that many Orr Fellows over the years have pursued is graduate school. Typically, Orr Fellows go to either law school or business school, but there have been many others that have gone on to receive a range of different graduate degrees. This path has become more and more common among Fellows as they're often considered to be life-long learners. They appreciate learning new things and are curious about what they lack knowledge in.

The last option for graduating Orr Fellows is to pursue personal business ventures. There have been several Fellows that have built entrepreneurial companies in Indianapolis on their own, while several others have teamed-up with their fellow Orr Fellows to create high growth start-ups together.

Although these several options are available for Orr Fellows after they complete their two-year stint with the Governor Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship, one thing that all Fellows involuntarily do is join the list of successful Orr Fellow alumni that came before them. Many stay active in Fellowship events/activities, but this is something that we're working to improve upon. It is important to keep the Orr Fellowship as tight as possible and the alumni network as strong as ever. It certainly is a blessing to have so many young, successful business leaders in our network that are more than happy to help out if you just reach out to them.

This is just another reason why the Orr Fellowship is one of the best places to work in Indiana!

Orr Fellowship Recruiting Secrets Unveiled

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 by Blaine Cooper-Surma

So you've heard about the Governor Bob Orr Indiana Entrepreneurial Fellowship, but one thought that may have crossed your mind is, "how do I get noticed by the Orr Fellowship, and what types of attributes/experiences are they looking for in their candidates?" For the next couple of minutes I'm going to share with you some of our recruiting secrets that will undoubtedly make you a more attractive candidate for this prestigious Fellowship opportunity in Indianapolis.

First and foremost, we firmly believe that the most valuable experience that one can attain while in college is leadership experience. Now that I've said this, let's take a minute to try and better understand what I'm talking about. When we're going through Orr Fellow candidate applications, having a candidate that was a "member" of twelve different clubs on campus in no way compares to a candidate that was president of two or three reputable clubs on their campus. To take this one step further, having a title means nothing if you didn't have any notable achievements while holding that particular position. We want to see that you were elected by your peers for a leadership position, but it is much more important that you made a positive impact to your organization during your tenure as officer. Leadership experience can be gained in many different ways, so there's no excuse for a lack of leadership on your resume.

The next piece of information from your resume that we find extremely important is your GPA. This may come as no surprise, but the easiest way to demonstrate your intelligence is by getting good grades. Being that you're looking for Indiana jobs out of college, much like thousands of other students in their senior year of studies, this is one of the only standardized means of measurement that we can use to juxtapose you with the rest of the candidate base. So what if your GPA isn't as good as you'd like it to be? If this is the case for you, it in no way means that your chances of getting into the Orr Fellowship are gone. What you do have to figure out at this point, however, is how you're able to justify your lower GPA, in addition to being able to describe what qualities/experiences you have that make you a perfect fit for this distinguished entrepreneurial fellowship.

Another attribute that we look for in our candidates is their ability to demonstrate an entrepreneurial spirit in their lives. One of the inherent qualities that all Orr Fellowship host companies possess is a strong sense of entrepreneurship. In fact, it is critical that our Fellows hold that same entrepreneurial attitude so that they can seamlessly integrate themselves into these high-growth Indianapolis companies. As history has shown, joining the Fellowship often leads to entrepreurial opportunities after the two-year committment of being in the Orr Fellowship has been completed. Since this is the case, candidates that demonstrate this entrepreneurial attitude in their own lives prior to joining the Orr Fellowship typically find themselves fitting in well within the Fellowship and their respective host companies.

So what are the most important attributes/experiences that the Orr Fellowship looks for when evaluating their candidates each and every year? We are looking for hard-workers, well-rounded students (being a college athlete is a nice bonus), and intelligent people. More specifically, though, we are seeking people that have great life stories and are passionate about our organization. We truly believe that what you've done in your life defines who you are today. In addition, being passionate about the Fellowship and what it stands for is something that is necessary for all Orr Fellows - choosing to join the Orr Fellowship is making an investment in the future of your career, and it takes a certain kind of person to be willing to take the "leap of faith" and join the Orr Fellowship.

Now that you know what kind of people the Orr Fellowship is looking for, do you think you have what it takes? Do you fit any or all of these criterion? If so, and you're looking to secure one of the most distinguished post-grad jobs in Indianapolis in 2011, apply today on the Governor Bob Orr Indiana Entrepreneurial Fellowship Homepage.

Cucumber Flavored Soda Pop

Monday, November 16, 2009 by Nate Bullock

This video surfaced last week from Chow.com, a food and recipe site. I found myself at work watching John, the proprietor of Galcos Soda Pop Stop based in Los Angeles, walk me through his store and serendipitously bring me into his world of 'bubbly water'. Aside from his addictive personality, one can't help but be fascinated by the sheer volume of knowledge the man possesses about everything from rose petal flavored soda to his worldwide business development pipeline. It's always refreshing to hear and see someone who genuinely loves what they're doing.

When I watched the video, I couldn't help but think of entry-level jobs in Indiana. Entry Level Careers are often sought by people who want to make a lot of money, manage a team of employees, and take the elevator straight to the corner office. Most fast paced jobs offer entrepreneurially minded young people the chance to win many of those responsibilities. However, high-growth company jobs, and many other entry-level jobs in Indianapolis are about one thing: passion for doing good work. Companies hiring new grads need talent, but more importantly they need passionate talent. One sure-fire result of being passionate about your career is knowing your business inside and out. Jobs at a small company require that everyone contribute, and companies hiring new grads will open their doors to people who are willing to enter a business career in Indianapolis with a fervor for knowledge, hard work, and dedication.

The shipping is expensive, but I'm looking forward to my cucumber soda shipping in from California this week. Case-in-point right there...John was so passionate in his video that I actually ordered a case of cucumber soda. Imagine the possibilities if you began your business job in Indianapolis with that kind of passion...

Remember, the Cream Always Rises to the Top

Monday, November 16, 2009 by Blaine Cooper-Surma

While many of you out there are suffering from a case of the Mondays, I, on the other hand, am coming off a weekend buzz that will surely last me for the rest of the year. What happened that was so great, you ask? Well, on Saturday the Little Giants of Wabash College defeated, smashed, and slaughtered (I think you get the idea) the little Tigers of DePauw University in the annual Monon Bell football game. The prize - the infamous Monon Bell that has been passed from victor to victor for the past 116 years.

As Natalie Ciambrone, a fellow Fellow of mine, so eloquently noted in her post regarding the Monon Bell game last week, this unique tradition does bring people together from both sides of the rivalry. In fact, many of the Orr Fellows were able to meet up this year for some friendly trash-talking before the game. You can see what went down from the picture below (that's Katie Veatch and myself, in case you were wondering). With both schools well-represented in the Orr Fellowship, this little rivalry will certainly remain a topic of conversation for many years to come.

Ok, ok, so it's about that time in the post that I have to say something enlightening and at least half-related to the Orr Fellowship. Well, here's my valiant attempt at doing so. Historically, many Wabash College and DePauw University students have been successful in securing their place in the Orr Fellowship. But how are these liberal arts students even remotely prepared to take jobs in these fast growing Indianapolis companies that inherently require experienced employees with a great deal of business-related knowledge? The answer is simple, really. These two universities do a tremendous job at teaching their students how to think and learn effectively. In a sense, working in a start-up company is extremely similar to getting a liberal arts education. While at Wabash, I remember taking classes in Theater, Art, Music, Economics, Math, English, and Religion (just to name a few). In a way, it was extremely difficult to develop a way of thinking that was sharpened to be single-discipline minded. It is this flexibilty and broad way of thinking that permeates within a entrepreneurial business which often requires its employees to wear many different hats while performing day-to-day operations.

So why do I think that liberal arts students make great Orr Fellows? They make great fellows because of their ability to think critically while still keeping all interests of the business in mind. This, I propose, is an invaluable skill that every business, whether small or large, needs to look for when it comes to hiring. So, no matter what your background is in school, or what discipline you ended up studying, just remember - the Orr Fellowship is looking for students that can fill a variety of roles within a company, while working hard and learning to thrive, no matter what they end up doing.

On a lighter note - ding, dong, ding, dong, ding, dong...

Sorry Dannies, that's the Monon Bell that will be ringing in Crawfordsville for at least the next 363 days... Better luck next year!

A Day in the Life of an Orr Fellow

Thursday, November 12, 2009 by Blaine Cooper-Surma

One of the questions that I commonly receive from Orr Fellowship candidates is, "What types of things do you do at work?" For most Orr Fellows this is a straight-forward question, but for me, the answer is a bit more long-winded.

When I accepted my offer with the Orr Fellowship, I also accepted an offer with ExactTarget. ExactTarget has participated as an Orr Fellowship host company for many years now. It differs from the rest, though, in that it offers a particular program for recent college graduates - the Catapult Rotational Program. The Catapult Program is designed to provide college graduates the opportunity to rotate through three departments within ExactTarget. It allows you to develop your professional skill-set while obtaining cross-functional experiences. Upon completion of the three two-month rotations, "Catapulters" are placed in a permanent position that allows them to deeply impact the success of both their department and ExactTarget as a whole.

Now, back to the question that I was previously talking about. When answering the posed question about my typical day at work, I generally describe my current and past rotations. My first rotation at ExactTarget was in the Human Resources department. I then transitioned to Customer Relationship Management. My third, and current rotation, is in Sales Operations. So what types of things am I doing during my time at the office? I'm currently preparing to lead a portion of our Sales Training On-boarding class that is now taking place. When a salesperson joins the team at ExactTarget, they go through a rigorous, two-week long training course. Within the first two days in my current rotation, my manager asked me to learn everything I possibly could about our Salesforce Integration application through AppExchange, while creating the presentaton from scratch, in order to set myself up to teach the group of new hires. Needless to say, I feel ready to go for next Tuesday's class!

After I've shared my experiences with these college seniors, I like to turn the focus on them. I ask them if there are other career opportunities that they're pursuing that allow them to join a company and immediately be able to make an impact within the organization. The answer is almost always a resounding "no."

So why do Orr Fellows get the leg-up when it comes to career-growth opportunities? From talking to several different employers and upper-level management, the overall consensus is that the Orr Fellowship has a reputation of supplying high-growth Indianapolis companies with talented, hardworking employees. I consistently hear these business leaders talk about how comfortable they feel putting these Fellows in a sink-or-swim environment because they always know that these young professionals will find a way to come out on top.

So when considering your first full-time job out of college, think about what I've said. If you're looking to grow professionally while making a positive impact in your organization, the Governor Bob Orr Indiana Entrepreneurial Fellowship might be for you!

And the Rivalry Continues...

Thursday, November 12, 2009 by Natalie Ciambrone

As DePauw and Wabash students and alumni everywhere get ready for arguably one of the greatest sports weekends (for our schools at least), I can’t help but start feeling nostalgic. Even though I’m less than one year out of college, it’s weekends such as “Monon Weekend” that make me long to be back at DePauw.

But then I remember the stresses of senior year and am quickly snapped back into the reality that my entry level job isn’t bad! No longer am I balancing finding my first full-time job with senior seminar, other classes, and extracurricular activities.

At this time last year I was in the middle of the Governor Bob Orr Fellowship recruitment process – excited about the possibility of working in a high-growth Indianapolis company. Never did I consider that a year later I would be working closely with a couple of Wallys. But, despite our innate desires to compete with each other, the reality is that when it comes to doing great work, we are able to put aside our alma maters and come together.

And that’s one of the things I love about the Orr Fellowship. Not only has the DePauw/Wabash rivalry been enhanced (no longer does the distance between our schools hinder the pre-game trash talking), but it brings together individuals who might never have gotten a chance to meet/work with each other.

The sad reality is it takes more effort to find friends in the “real world” than on a college campus; especially when working with a small, entrepreneurial company where you could be one of only a couple 20-somethings in the office. So having that built in network of young professionals the Orr Fellowship brings together is a very unique opportunity.

(GO TIGERS!)

My Path to the Orr Fellowship

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 by Blaine Cooper-Surma

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, and Christmas around the block, it's difficult to believe that I've been working in the real world for just over four months now. I can remember like it was yesterday what it was like to look for a job while still in college. I remember how confused I was as an Economics major who knew I wanted to be in business someday, but you and I both know how vague of a career path business really is. So what did I look for and how did I get to be where I am today?

Luckily for me, as a senior in college I knew that the economy was beginning to look grim and that the market was probably going to get rough. To prepare myself for the tough situation, I did my due-diligence and began looking for a quality job opportunity to kick off my new career. I realized that I lacked specific skills that most large companies would be looking for, and also that I would be looking for an entry level job just like the rest of my graduating class. However, I knew that I wanted to live and work in Indianapolis as it has emerged a growing hub for small, technology start-ups. One of my other interests throughout college was entrepreneurship, so I then began looking for entrepreneurial fellowships in the Indianapolis area. What I soon stumbled upon was the Governor Bob Orr Indiana Entrepreneurial Fellowship. To learn more about this graduate fellowship, I connected with current Orr fellows to learn more about what the program has to offer.

So why did I choose to pursue the Orr Fellowship? There were several reasons, but here are a few:

the presence of a network of young professionals like myself to share ideas, concerns, successes, etc.
the pipeline of Indiana business leaders that fellows are given the opportunity to interact and build relationships with
the position and ability to join a small, start-up company and, through hard work, be able to make an impact within the organization
knowing that I'm making a good investment in my career by being in an environment that forces me to learn as much as possible about running a small business

So has my first few months in the working world provided me with the opportunities and experiences that were promised to me by the Orr Fellowship? The answer to this question is a confident "YES!"